


Always Listen to Your Seniors Before Attempting to Summon Anything

by levken



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Witch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/levken/pseuds/levken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He can already hear Sena-senpai’s voice grating on his nerves—something along the lines of, “Hah? Why don’t you ever listen? If I tell you something won’t work, then obviously I’m right”—but he stashes the annoying imitation away in the back of his mind, knowing that he actually has to acknowledge the problem at hand.</p><p>This problem being the newly formed person standing a few feet in front of him, right in the middle of the summoning circle he had so meticulously drawn only an hour earlier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Listen to Your Seniors Before Attempting to Summon Anything

**Author's Note:**

> i was going to put my notes at the end, but i'll just say here and now that this is completely full of headcanon and inconsistencies. sorry! i didn't think it out all too well.
> 
> i also aged up all the characters, so tsukasa is around 17-18 rather than 15, and everyone else is aged up in relevance to him, so for example, arashi is 19, ritsu is 20, etc. a pretty big jump, but hey, it's hard writing 15 y/os living on their own. i didn't want to push it! as always, i use she/her pronouns for arashi, so if that bothers you, i'd find another fic.
> 
> i also want to say that i did entirely NO research and completely made up everything from prior knowledge of fantasy and witch things. i've never even read harry potter, so you can see how i'd entirely failed, but i wanted to go for a more kiki-ish thing anyway, so yeah. sorry if my lack of real knowledge is annoying, but well, what's done is done.
> 
> btw, the sideships in this fic are ritsuizu, yuzuara, and lowkey kogarei, but it's not that noticeable.
> 
> um i'm not sure if you can @ people on ao3, but ao3 user snickets beta'd this for me so yeah. thanks. i also stole one of her stupid jokes so everyone blame her for anything that seems like a bad attempt at humor, ok? not me. 
> 
> i'm sorry ahead of time for anything you read that seems bad, but hey, what's new.

Oh… _ oh god _ .

 

He doesn’t know how, but somewhere along the way, the spell had gone horribly wrong. 

 

He can’t be blamed, not really — he’s only a novice, after all — and he’s sure that it’s fixable... _ somehow _ . He must have used too much hemlock, or maybe he shouldn’t have added that second snake skin, but he had just wanted to be _ sure _ , and that’s not a fault in itself. His only flaw is that, despite his persistent focus on getting the spell right, he had ultimately gotten ahead of himself and created something way bigger than he had meant to.

 

Alright—it’s okay. He can’t start panicking now. Everything will be fine; he just has to go begging to his seniors, telling them all about how they were right—he shouldn’t have tried to delve into something as complicated as summoning so quickly. 

 

(He can already hear Sena-senpai’s voice grating on his nerves—something along the lines of, “ _ Hah _ ? Why don’t you ever listen? If I tell you something won’t work, then obviously I’m right”—but he stashes the annoying imitation away in the back of his mind, knowing that he actually has to acknowledge the problem at hand.)

 

This problem being the newly formed person standing a few feet in front of him, right in the middle of the summoning circle he had so meticulously drawn only an hour earlier.

 

‘Person’—he wonders if he can call him that. He’s very clearly  _ not _ human, judging from his horns and the flash of a tail as he bends down to inspect the marker used for the summoning circle. Tsukasa isn’t sure if he should interrupt his observation—he could be dangerous, as demons typically are—but he doesn’t even get the chance to.

 

“This right here...this is your fatal flaw!” The demon straightens up again, turning to face Tsukasa so that he can walk straight toward him. 

 

Naturally, Tsukasa starts to back away, but fingers grip around his wrist and he finds himself unable to escape. Is he going to die like this? He’s too young and too rich for that—he hasn’t even written his will yet! 

 

He closes his eyes tight, trying to lean away from the demon because maybe, maybe if he imagines this isn’t happening, it won’t feel as painful when he meets his inevitable demise, and—

 

There’s laughter. Not pain, or blood, or death. Just laughter directed at him, and his true fatal flaw is probably his easily sparked irritation, because he immediately opens his eyes, eyebrows furrowing as he snaps, “What’s so funny?! If you’re going to kill me, get on with it already! I don’t need this sort of humiliation…”

 

“Pfft...what? Hahaha—kill you? Why would I do that?” The demon lets go of his wrist, leaning away now as he does a poor imitation of Tsukasa’s scrunched up face from earlier. “Just look! This is what you looked like. Wouldn’t you— _ hah _ —laugh too? It’s so funny! I just can’t stop.”

 

If he looked like that earlier, Tsukasa’s pretty sure he looks like he’s dead now—he can’t bring himself to be amused whatsoever, eyes staring ahead at the ‘person’ in front of him now. “I don’t...get the joke,” he says flatly, trying to keep his temper down. It’s unbecoming of someone of such status, but something about this guy’s general demeanor makes him unhappy by default.

 

“Ahhh, whatever. Some people just don’t get humor! That’s fine—you’re not the first stick in the mud I’ve encountered!”

 

Stick in the mud?  _ Stick in the mud _ . Who does this guy think he is?

 

“I’m not—”

 

“Anyway, as I was saying earlier...your fatal flaw! It’s  _ this _ .” Before Tsukasa gets a chance to react, a finger is thrust in his face, and upon inspection, he can clearly see the marker ink stained onto his fingerprint. “ _ Seriouslyyy _ , I thought everyone knew by now you were supposed to use chalk, but I guess some newbies really do mess up all the time. It’s okay—you’ve learned now, huh?”

 

Of course he’s learned now, but he’s not a newbie! He also totally knew about the chalk, but he just…He’d just forgotten to stock up on it beforehand, okay, and when he wants to prove a point, sometimes he gets a little rash. Why couldn’t his mess up have invoked a mutated cat? It would have been easier to deal with than this, but  _ noooo _ . Fate’s never that kind.

 

Leo pulls away from Tsukasa, apparently deciding he has to continue his exploration around the room. He finds Tsukasa’s favorite chair easily, plopping back down into it as if he owns it already—he  _ doesn’t _ , and he never will—and declaring, “This place is pretty nice, you know! I could get used to it.”

 

“Yeah, well,  _ don’t _ ,” Tsukasa says quickly, knowing fully well that the words are empty as soon as they leave his mouth.

 

* * *

 

Living on your own, even at a young age, is customary in witch society.

 

Adopting a familiar, typically a cat or a bird or, in some particular cases, a bat, is also customary, despite the fact that Tsukasa’s never never been able to hold one down. He’d had a cat once, but it ran away some time ago, and after being unable to find it, he had to inevitably cut the imaginary ties between them. He also had a sparrow half a year ago—it had been good at finding small ingredients that he had a hard time spotting himself—but, well...okay, he doesn’t want to think about what happened to the poor bird.

 

With all these unfortunate mishaps, it’s clear why Tsukasa had found himself familiar-less for a good few months, so how he ended up finding a familiar in an accidentally summoned demon is perhaps a bigger mystery to him than anyone else. It wasn’t by choice, not at first, but upon hearing his new—temporary—roommate insist that he’s great at finding things and that it’s Tsukasa’s fault he’s not having a good time down in Hell anyway, he’d eventually given in.

 

The demon—Tsukasa had found out his name is Leo—is, as it turns out, not actually all that good at finding ingredients. 

 

What he  _ is _ good at is stealing all of Tsukasa’s markers and then proceeding to write spells he comes up with on the spot all over the place...literally. One time Tsukasa walked in on his bathroom mirror being covered in graffiti. Another time he woke up to finding _ himself _ defaced; that hadn’t been a good morning for either of them, but Leo had insisted that this was how his inspiration worked—he had to write things down before he lost it to the abyss of his mind forever, he explained, to which Tsukasa wittily—if he could say so himself—added that yeah, his mind pretty much was a void of nothing, so it was understandable.

 

He doesn’t think anything Leo writes is actually worth anything, and more often than not he’s the one who has to erase it immediately after Leo has transferred the writing to paper, but he doesn’t want to test any of it out, not after this mistake already. 

 

He hadn’t been able to contact any of the people in his coven yet—it seemed that they were all pretty busy doing witchy things that he’s apparently too young to understand yet, despite Narukami-senpai only being a year older than him, so whatever—but they all eventually meet up in a gross diner nearby after a week or two has passed anyway. Sometimes Tsukasa wonders why they don’t gather somewhere nicer, more befitting of their coven’s surprising high status, but he always gets a bad excuse about how if they gathered somewhere like that, they’d attract suspicion—humans aren’t always so fond of witches, or anything they can’t understand, basically—but he has half a mind to assume the reason why they frequent the diner is because they let Sakuma-senpai sleep in whatever booth he wants and that he’s convinced his ‘shitty brother’ won’t suspect to find him in a place like that anytime soon.

 

In any case, he plans to bring Leo along to the diner in a few days time, but he can’t help feeling bitter about the disgusting floor he’s going to need to crouch on to beg for their help. His dignity’s practically flying out the window Leo’s currently defacing—wait.

 

“Hey, stop that!”

 

* * *

 

The diner is the same as always. 

 

Its familiar red, black, and white colour scheme litters the booths, tiles, and walls that brag signatures of people that don’t actually matter—he can’t imagine anyone flying across the Pacific on only a broomstick to meet a racecar driver, but  _ okay _ —and it doesn’t take long for him to spot the booth they’re occupying this time around. In fact, Narukami-senpai waves him down until he walks over, stopping in front of the booth.

 

“This is—,” Tsukasa stops. How can he introduce someone who isn’t even here? He’d apparently lost Leo on the way over, which is amazing considering how short of a walk it is, but he spots him uncapping a marker near a tiled wall, and—no. “ _ No _ .”

 

It takes a walk backward, some tugging, and an urgent hiss of “Get over here already—you’re embarrassing me!” before Tsukasa’s standing in front of the booth again, Leo at his side this time.

 

“This is…,” he starts again, only to be stopped once more.

 

“Naru! Sena!  _ Wooooow _ , it’s sure been so long!” Leo spreads his arms out wide, and Tsukasa has to sidestep to avoid getting accidentally slapped in the face. Leo pushes into the booth beside Sena-senpai before Tsukasa even has a chance to process what’s going on.

 

“Leo-san! I thought you’d been sent away already,” Narukami-senpai speaks, hands clasping together in front of her as she observes Leo fondly.

 

_ What—what is this exactly? _

 

“Yeah, no! If you think that idiot emperor could keep me concealed away forever, you’ve got another thing coming.” Leo leans back in his seat, and if there wasn’t already food on the table, Tsukasa’s pretty sure he would have propped his feet up. “I fought my way out of his trap and ended up wandering around until I found this guy’s place. At first he didn’t want me to stay, but I impressed him with my awesome skills and he begged me to let him take me on as his familiar, so yeah, this is where I’m staking out right now.”

 

That’s far from the truth! Or so Tsukasa wants to say, but he doesn’t want to interrupt his seniors either, no matter how ridiculous Leo is. Thankfully, he’s not the only one who notices his lies.

 

“ _ Really _ ,” Sena-senpai says, unimpressed, but he doesn’t direct that look at Leo for long, and Tsukasa ends up getting the brunt of it. “Really, you fought your way out of confinement? And here I thought that emperor had stronger magic than that.”

 

“Sena, you should know better by now. I really thought better of you, but it’s okay—everyone underestimates greatness sometimes!” 

 

“Mhmm...It’s great that you’re back and all, but can you be a little quieter about this freedom and whatever?” Sakuma-senpai slowly sits up from where he’d been laying across the booth seat behind them, yawning as he lifts his eyemask up to his forehead and away from his eyes. “I was trying to sleep while you guys pretend you have something important to talk about.”

 

Leo slams his hands down on the table, being the total opposite of quiet, and turns around in his seat to sit on his knees, staring Sakuma-senpai in the face now. “Rittsu! I should have known you were around here somewhere! Don’t you  _ ever _ not sleep?!”

 

Narukami-senpai gasps, ignoring Leo’s commentary so that she can pretend to be scandalized. “We always have something important to talk about, Ritsu-chan! Izumi-chan and I were just going over which concoctions are the best for getting rid of facial blemishes, and you missed  _ all _ of it, since Tsukasa-chan’s here now to interrupt.”

 

Tsukasa has a feeling that’s not meant to sound as harsh as he does, so he disregards it. “Um, so, you guys...know each other?”

 

“Yeah, we all go way back! I wouldn’t expect you to know this since you’re such a newbie, but I used to be the leader of this coven, you know,” Leo explains, but Tsukasa isn’t sure if it’s truthful or not. He can’t really imagine a  _ demon _ leading a coven, but when he looks toward Narukami-senpai and then Sena-senpai, his face full of disbelief, they only nod to confirm Leo’s story.

 

Tsukasa had heard stories of the real leader of their coven before, but realizing he’s this guy who he’d summoned by accident is incredibly disappointing. For some reason or another, he had expected someone much more professional, and not… _ this _ . 

 

Apparently, his frustration shows on his face, because Narukami-senpai’s patting the seat beside her and gesturing for him to sit down. “Don’t think about it so hard, Tsukasa-chan. You’ll get wrinkles, and that’s really unbecoming of your cute face.”

 

“I— _ okay _ ,” he says slowly, taking the seat beside her. He doesn’t know what else to say anyway, and instead resigns to staring at Leo’s face whenever he’s too distracted by Narukami-senpai and Sena-senpai’s chatter to pay Tsukasa any mind.

 

* * *

 

Tsukasa doesn’t get an explanation until three days later.

 

Well, that’s not true. He gets plenty of stories from Leo, all about how he was too strong and how Tenshouin onii-sama saw him as a threat, using underhanded tactics to seal Leo away while he was focused on fighting him. Tsukasa doesn’t buy any of it, naturally—he’s met Tenshouin onii-sama and he’s a good guy, most of the time—but he can’t exactly say he’s lying, either. He just lets Leo talk on and on, too confused by the fact that this guy is their supposed leader to focus on the stories about how great Leo is, and he doesn’t put any real thought into it until Narukami-senpai eventually calls him days after their meeting.

 

“I knew you’d be up, Tsukasa-chan,” she says as soon as he picks up. “Leo-san is asleep, isn’t he?”

 

Tsukasa does always wake up early, but he’s found that Leo likes to sleeps in. Some familiar he is. With the way she asks, Tsukasa’s pretty sure Narukami-senpai’s already suspected this much, so he doesn’t know why she asks, but he doesn’t say that.

 

“Um, yeah,” he says instead, taking a step away from the bed he’s been forced to share with Leo so that he can find his slippers. He heads for the kitchen that’s thankfully big despite his lack of cooking skills (his family definitely allowed him to have too many benefits, but he’s their only heir, after all) and leans against the counter as he waits for her to continue.

 

“Soooo, Tsukasa-chan. About Leo-san,” she starts, and Tsukasa figures it’s about time he gets a real explanation. “You probably don’t buy into his stories, do you? You’ve always been too particular for your own good, you know!”

 

This isn’t supposed to be a talk about him. What does she mean by that anyway? ‘Too particular’? He just likes to get to the bottom of things, which usually requires him to be overly logical, but there’s nothing wrong with tha—never mind.

 

“No, I don’t. Anyway, what about it? There’s a  _ real _ explanation, right?”

 

Narukami-senpai clicks her tongue at his underhanded rushing, but continues on anyway, “Of course there is. I  _ would  _ have told you at the diner whenever Leo-san ran off that time, but Izumi-chan doesn’t like hearing about it, so I couldn’t. He blames himself sometimes, I think, though he’d never admit that, so don’t tell him I told you.”

 

_ Blames himself for what? _ It’s not like anything that serious happened besides Leo running off to do whatever weird things he does, right? That’s what Tsukasa had assumed…

 

“So, the truth. I think you’d ought to know if you’re really keeping him around as a ‘familiar,’ Tsukasa, though I don’t think that’ll really last long at all, I’ll already say.” Of course Narukami-senpai has to input her opinion. Tsukasa usually appreciates it, but right now he just wants to know this ‘truth.’ “Not because of you or anything, but just because he probably only meant it to be temporary anyway. That’s how he works.”

 

“Oh,” Tsukasa says. He sort of wishes he hadn’t already fulfilled the metaphorical contract with him then, but at the same time.. he feels a little bit disappointed at the idea of being separated from him already—wait. No, he doesn’t. That’s absurd. “Right...Well, I believe that.”

 

“Good! You know I’d never lie to you, Tsukasa-chan,” she says, which makes him suspicious, but he doesn’t have time to question her. “You know what Leo-san said about the emperor back at the diner? Well, it’s not entirely untrue…but at the same time, it’s a total lie. I figured what he said about fighting his way out of the concealment was a lie, for reasons entirely unrelated to you, so I sort of want to know the real story about how you two met before we move on to the other stuff…”

 

He hadn’t had a chance to mention his big mistake before, and part of him had been relieved about that, but he can’t keep it a secret forever, no matter how embarrassing it is. At least he’s admitting it to Narukami-senpai and not Sena-senpai or Sakuma-senpai.

 

“Um,” he says, stupidly, trying to figure out a nice way to say this. “Remember how you and Sena-senpai told me I was too inexperienced to try summoning on my own? Well…I sort of did it anyway, and I messed up the spell big time. Then…Leo appeared.”

 

There’s silence on the other line. Tsukasa feels his life draining out of his body as he waits for her to respond, but when she finally does, it’s surprisingly lighthearted.

 

“Oh, Tsukasa-chan,” Narukami-senpai says between laughter, “we already  _ knew  _ you’d do it anyway. We just didn’t know you’d mess up this bad—I mean, we didn’t know you’d get so ahead of yourself!” Tsukasa has a feeling she meant the first comment more, but okay, he lets it slide. “Honestly, though, we didn’t even know where Leo-san was hiding out ourselves, so you sort of did us a favor. We needed to get in contact with him.”

 

“ _ Really _ ?” He tries not to sound too excited at the thought of, well, of not being a failure, but he fails at that too. “I mean, oh—that’s good, then. I’m glad I managed to do that...even if it was by accident.”

 

“Mhm…After the incident with the emperor, he sort of went missing, and it wasn’t because of concealment.”

 

Finally she’s getting to the point. Tsukasa disguises a sigh of relief as a yawn, which she thankfully buys.

 

“You know how some other species besides humans sometimes carry magical potency? Leo-san was one of those exceptions, just like Ritsu-chan and his older brother, so of course he actually made a formidable leader at the time. Actually, he can come up with his own original spells on the spot—no one’s really sure how, and not all of them work—and that was really impressive within the witch community,” Narukami-senpai begins. 

 

It’s a lot to process. Tsukasa himself had thought that those spells Leo had written were nonsense, but now he can’t help but to inspect the closest piece of paper left on the counter, fingers tracing the words.

 

“He was actually a household name in many covens for a while, mostly because some others would want to get their hands on his writings, but Leo said they were specifically for our coven. Anyway, he actually  _ was _ seen as a threat because of his magic potential. There was a time when we were really well-respected, you know, despite his eccentric personality, and eventually the word passed around that Leo was calling himself ‘King,’ and that was that. It was sort of natural that he would eventually get in a fight with the emperor, but no one really expected him to lose. After all, Tenshouin-san is…,” She trails off as if she’s not sure how to address his problem.

 

Tsukasa knows what she means, though. Despite Tenshouin onii-sama’s supposedly powerful magic, he’s often seen coming in and out of hospitals, staying there for extended lengths of time. “Right…,” he acknowledges, allowing her to continue on without saying it. 

 

“Right! So, we don’t actually  _ know  _ if the emperor used underhanded methods, but what we do know is that after Leo-san lost, he…well, he left, plain and simple. His pride was crushed, we think, but we weren’t there, either. That’s part of the reason why Izumi-chan blames himself. He thinks he should have insisted on going with him, but Leo-san wanted to go alone, and we couldn’t really convince him—he has a way of avoiding subjects.” 

 

Tsukasa knows  _ that _ well enough.

 

“Is that all?” he finds himself asking the question even though he’s not sure if he wants to hear about more. It’s a lot to take in as it is—would Tenshouin onii-sama really do something like that? Well, he does believe Narukami-senpai, but it’s still so…unlike the image that he’d built up of the most powerful witch within their shared domain. 

 

“Well, almost. I want to tell you that I think Leo-san’s just doing this whole familiar thing to lay low, and he probably doesn’t want to be found out by Tenshouin-san yet, so…I’d just let him do that and avoid saying anything about him being around,” she adds, “so if anyone asks for a Tsukinaga, then you know what not to sa—oh! Sorry, Tsukasa-chan, I totally forgot that I was expecting someone. I’ll talk to you another time.”

 

“Um, okay, bye.”

 

The last thing he hears from the other line is “ _ Yuzuru-chan _ !” followed by a click indicating the call is over. That’s fine, anyway; he sort of needs some time to think about things anyway, and he’s sure that Leo will wake up eventually, so he decides to take as much time as he can before that happens.

 

* * *

 

At first, Tsukasa doesn’t say anything about it. Sure, he’s annoyed by the lies and the fact that Leo tries to cover up something that’s entirely not his fault, but he’s not Leo, and he can’t understand how Leo thinks, no matter how much he desperately wants to. He doesn’t know why he’s so obsessed with the idea of getting exactly what Leo went through, but he is, and yet he still bides his time, unable to come up with a way to confront him. 

 

They go about their days normally, with Leo dragging him along to places that Tsukasa claims he doesn’t even want to go, using charms to disguise his horns and tail so that he can fit in properly with human society. 

 

(Of course, Tsukasa can see through them, as can any other witch; it’s a bit funny and irritating at the same time, seeing Leo getting along so well with strangers, particularly children who find his weird attitude cool, who can’t even see his true demonic traits. Tsukasa can, though—Tsukasa would always be able to, even if Leo charmed his eyes to be unable to see the  _ physical _ traits just like he had the humans.)

 

There comes a time when Tsukasa can’t take the faked ignorance between the two of them, and when they’re alone in his house again, he finally decides he has to bring it up  _ somehow _ . Leo seems like the flighty type, as he’s acknowledged from spending so much time with him, so he knows he has to come up with a way that won’t scare him off, but it’s hard—Tsukasa doesn’t  _ want _ to be gentle about it. He wants to be upfront, and he wants to find out why Leo had to lie about it all, even if it takes harsh words to do so.

 

But he can’t. He can’t, so instead he waits until Leo’s taking over his favorite chair again (which is still the most annoying thing possible, by the way), eventually walking over as if he’s done being distracted by whatever he was reading. Tsukasa leans against the arm of the chair casually, not even looking at Leo as he finally speaks up.

 

“So…Tsukinaga,” he says, after realizing that upon meeting Leo had only given him his first name. He had sort of assumed he didn’t have a surname until Narukami-senpai mentioned it, so there’s no way he would have known it without doing some research, which he’s sure Leo can figure out for himself. He glances back at him, watching Leo’s eyes go wide before his expression slowly settles into his normal overly chipper one. 

 

“Hmm, yes? Suo—?” he shoots back, as if they’re playing a game, and this gets on Tsukasa’s nerves more than anything, but he can’t show that. He has to wait.

 

“I—,” Tsukasa stops. What is he supposed to say? “I know...things, Leo-senpai.” This is the first time he’s tacked the honorific onto his name, but after everything—after hearing about what he went through—he can’t really  _ not _ do so anymore.

 

“Things? Like what things, newbie? Did you finally research those aliens I told you about? I’m seriously convinced that if vampires and werewolves and witches exist, there’s no way people from other universes don’t, and I’m pretty sure they’ve tried to contact me in my sleep. In fact, just the other day I had a dream that—”

 

“ _ Leo-senpai _ !” 

 

He hadn’t meant for his voice to sound so harsh, but apparently his outburst gets the point across, and Leo finally gets serious. It’s honestly a bit intimidating; he’s never really seen Leo like this before, but he knows there’s a reason for it.

 

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” he says after a pause, standing up from the couch to look Tsukasa level in the eye, or as level as he can; even though Tsukasa used to be shorter than him a few years ago, he grew up from the fifteen year old he was when he first met everyone else. “That...whatever you heard, from whoever you heard it from—Naru?—is true? I mean, it is. I didn’t— _ don’t _ —want to talk about it. I thought that’d be obvious.”

 

It  _ was _ obvious. It was, but Tsukasa found himself with a need to confront Leo about it, unable to resist in the end. Maybe, he realizes now, he was being selfish— _ is _ being selfish—but he needs to know. At least he thinks he needs to know, even if he comes off as demanding and awful.

 

“I...needed to know,” he says out loud, letting it settle between them. “I needed to know why you lied about it, and why you ran away, and all of the things that Narukami-senpai said they couldn’t explain for themselves. I want to know—I want to understand why I couldn’t meet you until now, and why you avoided it all. Everyone loses sometimes, Leo-senpai! That’s not a reason to disappear!”

 

“What?” Leo doesn’t look at him aggressively, but it’s obvious he’s not feeling happy about Tsukasa’s words. “What should I have said? That I ran away because I wasn’t good enough to represent our coven? That I couldn’t—that I can’t be this great leader you’ve heard stories about? Because that’s all it is. I lost, and I made the decision that I wasn’t fit to lead Rittsu, Naru, and Sena anymore. What can you possibly understand about any of that?”

 

He’s right. Tsukasa doesn’t understand, and that makes him more upset than anything else. “I could have understood, if you told me  _ before _ ,” he lies, and he knows that’s bullshit, but he doesn’t want to think too hard on his personal ignorance. “They wouldn’t have thought that about you. I’m sure they still don’t! You can’t just assume things on your own and run away—”

 

“I  _ can _ ,” Leo interrupts. “I can do that. I was the leader, so obviously I know what was best for the coven, and me stepping away was the best thing. You weren’t there, and you’ll never get it, but—but if you want to talk about it so badly, go discuss it with Naru again, because I don’t want to. I’ll—I’ll  _ leave _ .”

 

Tsukasa feels like the threat is empty—where will he go?—but he also doesn’t want to test it. “You can’t just keep avoiding my questions forever, Leo-senpai,” he says at first, trying to push away the irritation before it gets the best of him, “but I’ll stop—I won’t ask anymore for now. Just...don’t go anywhere. Not yet.”

 

The idea of Leo being gone—of leaving to somewhere Tsukasa can’t find him, because he’s apparently so good at doing that—is more threatening than not finding out the things he wants, as self-entitled as he can be.

 

Leo doesn’t say anything. He just looks at Tsukasa, looks and  _ looks _ until Tsukasa speaks up again, the words leaving a bad taste in his mouth: “I’m sorry.”

 

It takes all of two seconds for Leo to rebuild his image, stupid grin coming back to him easily as if they hadn’t just had their first argument ever. He stands up on his toes to ruffle Tsukasa’s hair, to which Tsukasa looks up in surprise, and says, “What are you sorry for, newbie?”

 

Before Tsukasa gets the chance to respond, Leo’s already walking away into Tsukasa’s bedroom, his rough way of pulling the door closed behind him the only indication of their conversation beforehand.

 

* * *

 

He decides not to bring it up directly anymore, but Tsukasa refuses to let it go, even if he has to hint at it in the smallest ways. He takes to replacing ‘Leo-senpai’ with ‘Leader,’ to which Leo is obviously conflicted about at first, but he eventually seems to take it as an ego boost instead of an indication that Tsukasa wants him to take back the responsibilities he once had, and they move past it.

 

It doesn’t seem like two months have passed, but between nights of sharing a bed with Leo and days spent following him around as if  _ Tsukasa’s _ the familiar, it all sort of becomes a blur. He spends the meetings with the rest of the coven as if he never left, chattering about this and that, and they even become more frequent, going from once every two weeks, to weekly, to any day Narukami-senpai decides they should meet up because she ‘misses talking to them,’ despite it only having been two days. 

 

Tsukasa can see the qualities of a leader in him when he squints and looks past his purposeful eccentricness, and it only makes him want to know the Leo from  _ back then _ even more. He can’t bring it up again, though; it’s too much of a touchy subject for Leo, and after a conversation with Sena-senpai about not pushing things when he’s already agreed to stick around for now, he’s realized that his seniors are probably right. 

 

That doesn’t mean he  _ likes _ it, but he learns to enjoy the things he does understand about Leo, like his sporadic bursts of inspiration and the way he wrinkles his nose when he’s thinking hard about something, chewing the cap of the marker he stuck on the end of it, and how he steals all of the blankets in the middle of the night, thinking Tsukasa doesn’t notice, but eventually feels too guilty and lays it back over both of them, giving Tsukasa the majority.

 

The thought of Leo leaving now, of disappearing from his life like he had the rest of the coven only a few years prior, is both scary and something that infuriates him, although he has no idea of how to tackle this issue now. He decides to save it for a later date, even though a part of him doesn’t want to think about it period, and continues to enjoy the way they’re living for the time being.

 

* * *

 

Things are good, or as good as they can be with Tsukasa constantly worrying over the littlest situations and having to yell at Leo about doing wrong every other hour, but there comes a time when things have to change, even if he’s the happiest he’s ever been in a long time.

 

It’s not Leo that ruins things, no; it’s a knock on the door and a face that Tsukasa only recognizes as ‘Yuzuru-chan’ from Narukami-senpai and as someone who hangs around Tenshouin onii-sama. He’s probably in his coven. That’s  _ probably _ why he’s here—shit, Tsukasa thinks, even though he’d never say the word out loud.

 

“Tsukasa-sama,” he starts, and judging by the confused look on Tsukasa’s face, he changes direction. “You don’t remember me. That’s understandable; I only helped take care of you when you were very young.” 

 

He doesn’t look old enough to have taken care of Tsukasa when he was a child, but as he racks his mind for a solution, he suddenly remembers the rumors of a witch in Tenshouin onii-sama’s coven whose family had mastered immortality, only to use it for serving higher ups for ages. At the time, he had thought,  _ what a waste _ , but he hadn’t known his own family had ties to them.

 

“Oh...right,” he says, trying to pretend he hasn’t forgotten, even though he totally has, and Yuzuru-chan sees through his lies. 

 

“I’m not here to talk about that, though. I’m here to inquire about a certain Tsukinaga-sama that’s suspected to be staying with you?” Yuzuru-chan says it so nicely, as if he wasn’t sent by the person that crushed Leo’s pride singlehandedly. 

 

“Tsukinaga-sama? Tsukinaga-sama,” Tsukasa repeats, and he doesn’t know why he does. He doesn’t know how to function for a moment there—what is he supposed to do? What is he supposed to say? All of his instincts are screaming at him to do something, though the route he actually takes is the last one he wanted to, but he’s practically panicking internally. 

 

“Um…no. Good bye,” he finally says, closing the door on Yuzuru-chan’s face.

 

_ Oops _ .

 

* * *

 

“ _ You closed the door on his face?! _ ”

 

Tsukasa holds the cell phone away from him, unable to handle Narukami-senpai’s tone so close to his ear.

 

“No. Wait, yes. I didn’t mean to!” He really hadn’t. “Don’t you know him?! Why did he come looking for Leader?!”

 

“I know him  _ really _ well.”

 

Ugh. Tsukasa doesn’t even want to know.

 

“But that doesn’t mean I keep track of everything he does! If I had known he would be coming over, I would have warned you beforehand. More importantly, does Leo-san know? Did you tell him?”

 

Should he have? Part of Tsukasa knows he should have mentioned it, but another part of him felt like if he did, Leo would want to leave, and he can’t really handle that.

 

“...No. I don’t want him to freak out,” he admits, to which Narukami-senpai sighs heavily. Tsukasa can practically feel the disappointment radiating from across the line. “Well, am I supposed to tell him?!”

 

“I mean, probably. It’ll be worse if he finds out for himself, you know,” she says, and he already knows she’s right. “But in the meantime, I can try to get some information from Yuzuru-chan when I next meet him, so you just worry about getting it across to Leo-san, okay?”

 

She’s still meeting him after all of this? Well, he supposes this Yuzuru-chan didn’t particularly do anything wrong besides follow orders, but…it just doesn’t sit right with him.

 

“Okay,” he agrees finally. “Okay, I’ll talk to Leader about it, but if it goes wrong…just know I tried.”

 

“Sure thing, Tsukasa-chan.”

 

* * *

 

It goes over about as well as Tsukasa thought it would, which is to say, not well at all.

 

Leo wants to leave as soon as he finds out; he even begins packing his things—actually, Tsukasa’s things, and the clothes for Leo that Tsukasa had used his parents’ money to buy—into one of Tsukasa’s bags, but luckily, Tsukasa manages to talk him down and get everything unpacked pretty quickly.

 

Tsukasa doesn’t get why he wants to go, especially considering how much he talks about wanting to meet that emperor one day again and show him up, but maybe it’s a defensive thing. He can’t really question it, so instead he leaves figuring out what to do to Sena-senpai and Sakuma-senpai, who coincidentally ask them to meetup with them at Sena-senpai’s apartment.

 

Narukami-senpai’s busy, so she isn’t there, which is kind of scary considering Sena-senpai’s general demeanor and Sakuma-senpai’s habit of letting Sena-senpai do whatever he wants, but at least Leo is with him, and they’ll probably mostly focus on him.

 

There’s an incident where Leo throws open the door, immediately claims the couch as his place for the time being, but winds up having to move due to not having seen Sakuma-senpai under the blankets. He complains about not liking being sat on, but eventually they settle that, and move on, each of them now situated in a different seat in the living room of the apartment. Leo claims a different chair, Tsukasa sits down on the floor in front of it, and Sena-senpai forces Sakuma-senpai to share the couch with him.

 

“Hey, you shitty king,” Sena-senpai says, although his words and the way he looks at Leo tell totally different things about him. “We heard about what happened, with that Yuzuru coming by and everything, so I just want to say—”

 

“Mhmm, right,  _ right _ . It’s nothing, really! Anyway, Sena, what’s that bruising around your neck for? I can’t see it from all the way over here, but I’d almost say it looks like a vampire’s bi—”

 

“Shut up! Just. Stop talking.” He reaches up to clasp a hand on his neck, trying to hide the bruising there as he shoots a glare in Sakuma-senpai’s direction. There’s some whispering that Tsukasa doesn’t even try to listen to, and then Sena-senpai drops his hand again.

 

_ Oh, so that’s how it is. _ Tsukasa had thought they seemed closer than usual lately, but he wouldn’t have expected this…In hindsight, he probably should have.

 

“Speaking of vampires,” Leo starts again once they’re both thoroughly distracted, but it only takes a second for them to focus on him again.

 

“No,” Sakuma-senpai says before he can even get the full sentence out, which is surprising considering the fact that he’s usually half asleep most of the time. Apparently mentions of his brother are enough to wake him up.

 

“But—”

 

“No.  _ No _ , I won’t contact my shitty brother for you, no matter who you are.” 

 

Even though Sakuma-senpai’s words seem final, Tsukasa doesn’t really believe that Leo won’t get away with what he wants. He just doesn’t know  _ why _ he wants it.

 

“But I need to talk to him!” Leo doesn’t wait for them to ask why. “He knows valuable information, and if I can’t get it out of him, it’s a lost cause! You know I can’t go to any of the other Oddballs,  _ riiight _ ? I mean, Kanata’s sort of…As much as I like him, he’s pretty out there,” he says, as if that’s not the most hypocritical sentence he’s ever used. “Shu’s too obsessed with doing his own thing, and Wataru…you know why I can’t talk to Wataru!”

 

“I don’t even  _ know _ where he is.” Sakuma-senpai’s been avoiding his brother for as long as Tsukasa can remember, so that’s honestly believable. “And I’d love to help you figure it out, but I...ah...actually have plans that don’t involve finding him. Such as...you know…” He doesn’t finish his sentence on purpose, grabbing blankets from the couch and laying back down. He faces away from Leo, laying his legs over Sena-senpai’s lap without asking permission, and even though he looks disgusted, Sena-senpai surprisingly doesn’t move them.

 

“ _ Nooo _ , Rittsu!” Leo jumps up from his seat, accidentally kicking Tsukasa in the side, but he doesn’t stick around to check the damage, instead rushing over to shake Sakuma-senpai’s shoulder. “Don’t get lost to the dream world when I need you so urgently! I thought we were friends. Comrades! How could you do this?!” 

 

No response. 

 

He’s gone.

 

Tsukasa’s too busy nursing his newly sore side to pay any attention to Leo, but apparently Sena-senpai gets the chance to push him away, groaning at his loudness. 

 

“Look, I don’t know where he is either,” he says, to which Leo immediately wants to speak, but Sena-senpai interrupts him and continues, “but I know where Hakaze-kun is, if that helps. I guess you could get information out of him.”

 

“ _ Really?! _ ” Leo forgets Sakuma-senpai exists in favor of clutching Sena-senpai’s hands, way too excited about the concept of meeting up with...Hakaze-kun. Tsukasa had met him before, and he’s not that impressive. “Really? Really, Sena? That’s great! Tell me where he is now!”

 

Sena-senpai pulls his hands away, setting them back down against Sakuma-senpai’s legs, and says, “ _ Fine _ .”

 

At least it probably won’t be that big of a trip, if they’re finding Hakaze-kun. He’s probably just hanging out with some girls in a random cafe or something, he thinks, since that’s what Tsukasa only ever hears about him doing, but of course he’s wrong.

 

He’s always wrong lately.

 

“So...you know that deranged ex-mermaid?”

 

_ So wrong. _

 

* * *

 

Leo isn’t even the one who approaches the people hanging around when they arrive at the beach, which isn’t really fair, considering the fact that he’s the one who wanted to come. Instead, he stakes out behind an oddly large rock, watching from afar as Tsukasa approaches a man with hair much longer than average and a sword at his side. 

 

There’s a part of him that wants to say, ‘why should I risk my life speaking to this man?’ but Leo talks about how he’s part of Hasumi-kun’s coven, and if Hasumi-kun finds out about Leo, then he’ll definitely tell Tenshouin onii-sama. Besides, if he goes wild with swinging that sword, Tsukasa’s much younger than Leo and has less to live for…which, frankly, was a super annoying way of trying to convince him, but.

 

_ Whatever _ , Tsukasa had said.  _ Fine _ .

 

“Excuse me,” he says, once he’s close enough for the person to hear him—Kanzaki Souma, Leo had said his name was—and he immediately gets a reaction from him. In fact, the staring’s a bit intimidating, but Tsukasa tries his best to ignore it. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question..”

 

“Of course!” 

 

He hadn’t expected the man’s answer to be so positive, or so loud (he almost rivals Leo), but he takes it as a relief.

 

“Right…Thank you. Do you know where I can find a certain Hakaze-kun?”

 

A sharp, “No,” comes all too fast for Tsukasa to entirely process it.

 

“Um…but I was under the assumption that you know him.”

 

“I do,” Kanzaki-kun says. 

 

_ Okay _ . 

 

“Then where is he?”

 

“Dead.”

 

_ Oka _ —wait, not okay!

 

“Dead?! Dead how?! What happened to him?!” This is the first he’s heard of it! Usually word like that travels fast, so how did this escape him?

 

“I killed him,” Kanzaki-kun says calmly, as if he hasn’t committed a serious crime, and Tsukasa honestly doesn’t know what to say.

 

Thankfully, a hand clasps Kanzaki-kun’s shoulder soon enough, and when Tsukasa’s gaze follows the arm upwards, he can see it’s Hakaze-kun.

 

_ Thank God. _

 

“Hahaha, it’s not nice to spread rumors, you know, Souma-kyun? What if some girls heard you say something like that, and I had to deal with telling everyone it was a lie? What if word got out about you killing someone, and Hasumi-kun and Kiryuu-kun heard about it? What would they think, I wonder—”

 

He doesn’t get to finish. 

 

Kanzaki-kun jerks away from him so fast at his final sentence, face paling. “I. Have to go,” he says through gritted teeth, and that’s the last Tsukasa hears of him before he’s hurrying away. 

 

Tsukasa really doesn’t like being around these weird sort of people.

 

“So, what did you need me for, anyway?”

 

Speaking of weird people, Leo bounds up to them before Tsukasa even gets a chance to explain.

 

“Kaoru-kuuun!” 

 

The look on Hakaze-kun’s face is nearly identical to the disgusted one on Tsukasa’s face.

 

“Oh, ah. Tsukinaga-kun?  _... _ How can I help you?” He obviously doesn’t want to be seen with him, but that sort of makes sense, now that Tsukasa thinks about Hakaze-kun’s hobbies. Leo isn’t exactly the type to attract positive attention from girls, or, well, anyone really.

 

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to ruin your image, Kaoru-kun, although honestly I think I could only be an improvement to that! You know, girls actually have a thing for bad boys, and seeing as I’m a demon, I’m practically made of that sort of material. Right, newbie?”

 

Why is he being brought into this again?

 

“Yeah, he’s literally the worst,” Tsukasa says without thinking, but he doesn’t take back his words even when he realizes. Besides, Leo doesn’t take it as an insult.

 

“Right, so, you see, Kaoru-kun? You could actually probably learn a few things from me, I think, so if you ever want lessons on how to be a proper bad boy and not... _ this _ ,” Leo pauses, looking over Hakaze-kun as if he has any room to talk, “then feel free to contact me anytime. I’d make room in my busy schedule for you immediately!”

 

_ What busy schedule? _

 

“I—alright. Alright, okay,  _ anyway _ .” It’s obvious Hakaze-kun’s trying not to say what he’s thinking. “Back to whatever it is you need…Can you make it quick? I sort of need to get back to Kanata-kun sooner or later, since I told him I’d come by and see him, and I don’t want to keep him waiting forever.”

 

“Oh, right. I  _ toootally _ get it,” Leo says, shooting a wink Hakaze-kun’s way. He actually doesn’t get anything, does he?

 

“No, it’s not like that. I mean, we’re both guys, so—”

 

“Onto the subject! Where’s Rei?”

 

“—it’s not like that, I mean, if he were a girl, then—wait.” Tsukasa’s not one to judge (that’s a lie), but it really does take Hakaze-kun way too long to get off the topic of Kanata. “Sakuma-san? Really? That’s why you came all the way out here?” 

 

“Well, Rittsu wouldn’t tell me where he was, so I had to find an alternate resource! You know, it took a lot of effort for me to dig up your location all by myself, but somehow I managed, so hurry up and give me the details!”

 

That’s the farthest thing from true. Sena-senpai had practically drawn them a map for dummies, but okay. Tsukasa doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t really want to contribute to this nonsense more than necessary.

 

“Okay. I mean, he’d probably bother me if he found out I met you here and didn’t send you his way anyway, so…let me just…,” Hakaze-kun pulls his phone out of his jacket pocket, trailing off as he opens the messaging app, “…send the directions to… _ you _ …” He starts off looking at Leo, but by the time he finishes the stretched out word, he’s looking at Tsukasa. 

 

It figures he wouldn’t want Leo to have his number. Well, that’s fine. Leo doesn’t have a phone anyway; Tsukasa doesn’t mention it, instead taking out his own cell to swap numbers with Hakaze-kun as Leo gets distracted by a nearby seagull.

 

* * *

 

He doesn’t know why Sakuma-senpai’s older brother decided to station himself so far away, especially considering that Sakuma-senpai claims he’s  _ always _ after him, but it makes the trip there way more painful than necessary.

 

At first, they share a broom. Leo becomes overly fascinated with everything in the sky much easier than expected, so Tsukasa sort of enjoys the silence until Leo’s arms wrap around his waist and he leans forward  _ just so _ , almost causing Tsukasa to crash into a nearby office building. The people near the window had been so surprised that he just took advantage of it, shooting away as quickly as he could, while knowing fully well that he’d have to deal with Sena-senpai scolding him about “rumors of a red-haired witch flying around the city” later on that week. Whatever.

 

He keeps to the sky until Leo quite literally almost falls off when they’re halfway there (he’d been too eager to sit still, apparently), at which point he decides they need to take the train the rest of the way.

 

The trip feels much longer than it should with Leo talking about so many things, like how if he had been the one flying, they would have been so much more coordinated, and why hadn’t Kaoru-kun wanted to send him the address instead of a complete newbie, and how come he needs to stand up when someone older gets on the train, isn’t Tsukasa just too much of a goody two shoes rich kid?

 

Eventually, all of the talk ends as the train finally arrives at their stop, and Tsukasa practically has to run in order to keep up with Leo’s pace as he drags him along by the wrist. They get lost a few times along the way to the library Rei is apparently staked out in, but when they find it, Tsukasa easily realizes that he’s not there so much for reading, but rather the atmosphere of the place; it seems way too obvious against the neighboring buildings with its Victorian style architecture.

 

Leo practically throws the doors open when he makes it all the way up the steps, and Tsukasa immediately has to apologize to the librarian on duty, claiming he’s not always like this, even though he is.

 

He catches up with Leo just in time to catch him approaching a table occupied by two people he’s only semi-familiar with. One of which is obviously Rei himself, but the one next to him, who had apparently fallen asleep in the chair next to Rei, is someone that Tsukasa had done fairly well to avoid up until this point. He doesn’t know much about Oogami Koga, other than the fact that even one of the members of Tenshouin onii-sama’s coven is afraid of him (but then again, that particular member is a certain Himemiya-kun, so maybe the enemy of his enemy is meant to be a friend).

 

As Tsukasa and Leo reach the table, Rei immediately reaches to brush his fingers through Oogami-kun’s hair, aiming to wake him up with a simple, “ _ Doggie _ .” He looks way too asleep to respond to that, but to Tsukasa’s surprise, he perks up right away, as if he were born ready to yell at Rei for calling him that. Fortunately, Rei shushes him before he can, reminding him that they’re in a library, so please do be quiet, Doggie.

 

Leo, on the other hand, is anything but quiet.

 

“Rei! I was looking for you everywhere, you know! And it looks like you’ve still got that mutt with you, too! I would have thought he begged you to cut ties with him by now,” Leo says casually, and Oogami-kun shoots a glare his way. Tsukasa tugs on Leo’s arm, telepathically pleading with him to be more polite. It doesn’t work, of course, but it’s the thought that counts.

 

“Well, obviously that’s not the case.” Rei dismisses Leo’s rude commentary so easily that Tsukasa wonders how he manages. Tsukasa definitely isn’t on the same level as, say, Oogami-kun, but there’s something about Leo that always leaves him feeling ten times more reactive than usual. “I hadn’t been informed that you were back from your concealment, Tsukinaga-kun. If I had known, I certainly would have made arrangements to meet you sooner. It’s a shame that it took so long, but at least we finally get to meet now, hmm?”

 

This guy…talks even more than Leo does, which is impressive.

 

“So, let’s get to the point,” Rei continues. “What exactly is it that we’re meeting for?”

 

“Can you not,” Oogami-kun interjects, sitting up straighter in his chair, “fucking humor him so much? His voice grates on my nerves enough with how much shitty nonsense he spews, but now you’re going ahead, trying to encourage him to say more stupid shit. You’re both annoying assholes, you know that?”

 

“ _ Oh _ ,” Tsukasa says softly, too surprised by Oogami-kun’s language to stop himself. He’s way worse than Sena-senpai, and that’s saying something.

 

“Ahhh, what do you mean by shitty nonsense?! Everything I say is purely factual and something you can learn from, you know! Just because you’re too animalistic to understand someone with a higher skill level than you doesn’t mean you should get so harsh about it!” Leo’s only stirring him up further.

 

Oogami-kun places his palms flat on the table, chair pushing back behind him as he stands up to glare directly at Leo. He’s got him beaten by a good few inches, and Tsukasa figures if Oogami-kun tries to fight them now, they might both die, or at least Leo will, because Tsukasa will be out the door and as far away as he can get before that happens.

 

“Listen,  _ you fucking _ —”

 

“Now, now, Doggie, let’s not get rude.” Rei pushes his own chair away from the table, standing up slowly. “Let’s take this to another table, shall we, Tsukinaga-kun? I’d hate for us to get interrupted any longer.”

 

“Fuck you,” Oogami-kun adds.

 

“And as for you…Suou-kun, is it? Doggie can keep you company while Tsukinaga-kun and I discuss matters.”

 

“Wait,” Tsukasa starts, standing up, but it’s useless, as Rei’s already walking away with Leo following after him eagerly. He takes one look at Oogami-kun, internally praying, and sits back down slowly.

 

* * *

 

As it turns out, Oogami-kun isn't all too bad of a guy when he isn’t threatening someone’s life. Despite what Leo had said earlier, Tsukasa finds out that Oogami-kun isn’t actually Rei’s familiar at all, instead sticking around by choice (although he didn’t exactly say that in his own words). He acknowledges him as someone to respect, despite internally placing himself higher than him, and leaves it that, still eagerly waiting for Leo’s return despite how—at least for Oogami-kun—civil their conversation has managed to be.

 

Once it’s all said and done, Leo refuses to talk about what he discussed with Rei until they get back to Tsukasa’s place, which Tsukasa personally finds ridiculous, and it sets him in a bad mood the rest of the way home. He has a good idea of what it was about, sure, but guessing has never been his best skill, especially when he’s much too prideful about being told he’s wrong to even throw out his ideas in the first place, so he’s unfortunately left with only waiting as an option.

 

The way back feels even longer than the way there, but as soon as they push open the door to Tsukasa’s apartment, he can hardly wait to confront him. In fact, he doesn’t, shutting the door behind him and immediately reaching for Leo’s wrist, stopping him on the way to the bedroom. It’s late, sure, but they can go to sleep later when Tsukasa’s not feeling stressed out about what’s probably nothing.

 

“Leader, are you going to tell me what that was about now? I should have asked you before we even went,” he admits, feeling stupid now for not doing so. That way, if it were something concerning to him, he could have prevented it for the time being. “I just didn’t think about it, but you said you’d tell me when we got here, so…”

 

Leo isn’t even fazed at Tsukasa’s nervousness. He doesn’t even pull his wrist away, laughing off the question as if Tsukasa isn’t trying to be entirely serious. “I think it’s obvious enough, Tsubasa!” Of course he’d get his name wrong, even in a time like this—he really is a devil. “But since you don’t get it, I’ll go ahead and explain. I asked Rei all about that blockhead emperor’s favorite hiding spot, and you know what, it all worked out—he knew everything! So tomorrow, I’m going to go and confront him before he can send anyone looking for me again. He already knows where I’m staying, so it’s better now than later, right?”

 

‘Better now than later’? Tsukasa can’t possibly imagine it ever being ‘better,’ at all, but Leo’s being so positive about it…Why? There’s nothing good about going to see Tenshouin onii-sama, at least not for someone in Leo’s situation. The concern must show on his face, because Leo’s pulling his wrist away, squinting up at him now.

 

“What? Cat got your tongue, newbie? Or maybe it’s a dog, although I thought we left Oogami-kun back with Rei! Hah!” He’s way too amused by his own joke. Tsukasa can’t even convince himself to fake a smile, not that he ever does anyway.

 

“Leader,” he says, focusing on keeping his voice level. If he doesn’t, he might end up yelling, and he knows how poorly that went last time. “I don’t think you should go see him.”

 

“Huuuh? I mean, why wouldn’t I? We went through so much effort to find his location that it’d be a waste not to surprise him now! I really wanna give the emperor a taste of his own medicine, you know? You don’t even need to come if you’re worried about it going badly! It’s not like he’ll do anything again, and even if he tries, I’ll definitely beat him, sooo! ‘S no big deal,” Leo rambles, as if he’s unsure how to convince Tsukasa, which is unlike Leo, who typically assumes his word is practically law.

 

“No, it’s not…it’s not like that, Leader! It’s not about what Tenshouin onii-sama will do,” he says, and he realizes he’s never called him that in front of Leo before, judging by the way he repeats the name under his breath. “I’m not worried about…that. I’m worried about you—what you’ll do.”

 

“What?” Leo’s eyebrows furrow, and Tsukasa wonders why it’s not obvious enough as it is. Does he really have to say it? “What do you mean what I’ll do? I’m just going to give him a shock! That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, you said that.” He’s not being serious enough—Leo never takes things serious enough. Tsukasa’s hands ball into fists at his sides, nails digging into his palms as he tries to keep his voice down. He’s not mad; he just doesn’t want to think about what could happen. If Tenshouin onii-sama shook up Leo so badly last time that he left, then…

 

“Look, newbie…If I want to do this, I need to go to sleep soon so I can get up bright and early. Rei said the emperor only frequents that tea shop early in the day! I don’t want to miss him!” Leo starts to turn away from him, but hesitates, waiting for a response. “So…”

 

Tsukasa doesn’t look up at him anymore. He doesn’t think he can gaze at him directly as he speaks again, so he doesn’t even try. “Leader, if you leave again…”

 

He doesn’t even get a chance to finish before Leo’s looking back at him again, clearly shocked by the accusation. “‘Leave again’? When did I ever say that was happening? Didn’t you listen to anything I’ve been saying? None of it was about leaving!” 

 

Tsukasa had been trying to keep his feelings hidden, but now that Leo’s raising his voice, he can’t stop himself. “You said that, but how am I supposed to know for sure?! If you leave again, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t want—I don’t want you to go anywhere!” He takes advantage of Leo’s hesitation as he processes what he just said, continuing on, “I want to stay with you longer, so.. Leader, please don’t go doing something rash like that!”

 

There’s silence. Tsukasa still can’t bear looking up at him, but eventually he forces himself to, just in time to see Leo approaching him.

 

“You’re stupid, you know that, Newbie? How can I leave when you clearly can’t figure anything out for yourself yet? That’d be way too selfish of me!” Leo stands up on his toes in order to reach Tsukasa’s face fully, cupping his hands against his cheeks. “You’re really inexperienced after all!”

 

“I,” Tsukasa says dumbly, unable to come up with a complete sentence. “You…”

 

“Hmm? Me?  _ Yooou _ ?” Leo hums, obviously no longer taking the situation seriously, despite Tsukasa having spilled his inner thoughts prior to his words. “Is that it?”

 

“I…I…,” he repeats, stumbling over his words now as he lets his frustration overflow. “I’m not inexperienced! You’re the one who doesn’t know anything, stupid leader!”

 

“Yeah, right!” Leo laughs, pulling his hands away so that he can steal a kiss from Tsukasa, obviously intending to leave him wordless as he finally escapes to the bedroom. “Don’t worry about any of it, alright?” is the last thing said before the door is pulled shut behind him and, for once, Tsukasa doesn’t follow after him angrily.

 

He has a lot of things to think about, after all, starting with the fact that his first kiss had been stolen by a real live demon—his parents would definitely have a fit if they heard about this.

 

* * *

 

When Tsukasa wakes up, Leo isn’t there.

 

In hindsight, he should have known this would be the case, but he panics nonetheless, shooting up and out of bed way too quickly for someone who’s just woken up. He first searches the house, trying to make sure that Leo isn’t still around and just out of bed unusually early, but of course he isn’t. He’s gone, off on whatever trip he decided he needed to make on this day  _ without _ Tsukasa, and the worst part is that Tsukasa hadn’t even asked for the address in case something bad happened.

 

He spends the first few hours of his day calling the rest of his coven-mates, but it’s an unsurprisingly unsuccessful series of calls.

 

Narukami-senpai claims it’s nothing to worry about, and if it’s meant to be, it will be, and Tsukasa honestly has no idea what she’s even trying to say.  _ What will be? _

 

Sena-senpai gets irritated at him for not having told him earlier, and after so much yelling, he ends up hanging up without thinking and pretending that he’s too busy to answer all the calls he receives in return. 

 

He finally gets ahold of Sakuma-senpai after exactly seven calls, but when he answers, he says that he’s not talking to him because apparently Tsukasa had let Leo trade Sakuma-senpai’s location to his brother for other information, and that he’d spent the morning hiding out in Sena-senpai’s apartment, who’s too mad at Tsukasa to let Sakuma-senpai sleep without first hearing the entirety of his fifty-two separate rants. Tsukasa has a feeling that’s an exaggeration, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to know the truth, either.

 

Eventually, he figures he’ll have to take things into his own hands, and he does a bit of research on every tea shop in the city, but as it turns out, there are way more than he expected. On top of that, in the middle of his trip between the third and fourth, it starts pouring rain, and that’s when Tsukasa decides that God must utterly despise him.

 

He doesn’t come home until it’s getting dark, and when he gets inside, all he wants to do is change out of his soaking wet clothes, but instead he stops in front of the closed door, unable to truly cope with the reality that Leo is  _ probably _ gone. He’s so lost in his own thoughts that he hardly processes the “Welcome home,” he receives despite having not said anything himself, and he mutters only a short, “Thanks,” before a few more seconds pass and realization hits him like a ton of bricks.

 

“Leader?” he says as he glances up, catching sight of familiar orange hair in his kitchen, browsing through the fridge as if he—as always—owns the place. He isn’t sure what comes over him, but he finds himself striding into the kitchen as if his life depends on it. When Leo steps away from the fridge door to stare at him in confusion, Tsukasa takes this as an opportunity to push it shut.

 

“Hey, I wasn’t done looking in there!” Leo protests, reaching for the door handle, but Tsukasa swats his hand away, staring at him as if he’s never seen him before.

 

“Leader, you...you didn’t leave,” he says simply, still trying to completely process the fact that Leo’s here, and he’s not gone forever. Why didn’t Tsukasa believe him?

 

“Yeah,  _ duuuh _ .” Leo finally settles for grabbing an apple out of the basket on the counter, giving Tsukasa a quick, judging once-over. “I’m here, all warm and dry, and you’re...soaking. What’d you go out and play in the rain for, newbie?” 

 

“I—what? The rain? I didn’t…” Tsukasa gives up halfway, taking steps toward Leo again until Leo’s back is against the counter. “Leader,” he says again, unable to come up with anything better. “Leader, you’re here.”

 

“Yeah, I already said I was! I don’t know what you’re going on about now, but you’re sort of weirding me out, you know?” Leo doesn’t lean away, though, and for once Tsukasa’s happy about him completely lacking any concept of personal space.

 

“Leader,” he repeats one more time, not sure why he’s smiling, nor why he leans in to press a kiss to Leo’s lips before he can take another bite out of the apple. He just does, and it feels  _ good _ to be doing so, even though he’ll be entirely embarrassed about it later, while Leo is mocking him for it and calling him mushy.

 

* * *

 

Apparently, all Leo did was talk to Tenshouin onii-sama, letting him know that he’s back around, and that he’d heard all about his defeat against some guys from a new coven he’d never even heard of before, so he doesn’t even want to bother with fighting with him anymore. Unsurprisingly, Leo had claimed, the emperor had agreed and they left it at that, going on to form some weird sort of relationship that Tsukasa will never be able to understand.

 

It takes a few weeks of convincing, but Tsukasa eventually is able to cut his familiar-related ties with Leo, leaving him with only the option of becoming the leader of their coven again. The only one who puts up even a slight fuss about it is Sena-senpai, but even then, he backs down easily, claiming that it’s not like it would ever be any other way in the first place. He’s not convinced at first, but everyone’s happy to have Leo back as the head of their gang of eccentrics, and Tsukasa can feel that in the way they act, as if the bonds between their group are more important than ever.

 

Even though Leo’s no longer Tsukasa’s familiar, he still sticks around in his apartment, leaving traces of his inhabitance with marker scribbles on the wall and clothes left all over the place. Tsukasa doesn’t know if Leo’s ever heard of cleaning up before, but even though it irritates him to no ends, he finds a certain fondness in being around to pick up after him. 

 

His feelings toward Leo, of course, don’t stop at the two kisses they shared before and after Leo’s encounter with Tenshouin onii-sama, but there’s no way that Tsukasa is bringing up anything about them being something more than friends unless Leo does first, and with his track record, that’s not going to happen for a long time. 

 

Still, they show it in different ways whenever no one else is around, such as when Leo forces Tsukasa to share a chair that’s entirely too small for more than one person and Tsukasa begrudgingly accepts because he actually likes feeling Leo’s warmth next to him, or when Tsukasa actually lets Leo rope him into some ridiculous stunt involving alien hunting in the middle of the night just because he likes the way his eyes light up when he mistakes a shooting star for a UFO, or when they’re hanging out with everyone else and try to steal innocent kisses whenever they think no one’s looking, because God forbid Tsukasa gets caught doing something like that—it’d seriously be the end of him!

 

Leo’s not perfect, but neither is Tsukasa, and as much as he hates to admit it sometimes, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Life is good in the best way possible, even though months ago he never thought it could get any better.

 

* * *

 

“No,” Tsukasa says, folding his arms over his chest as he attempts to stand firm in his decision. 

 

There is absolutely no way that he’s going to try one of Leo’s made up spells, no matter how many times the others assure him they’re not all entirely disastrous, or at least that’s what he thinks, because it only takes a few more ‘please’s before he gives in.

 

The spell itself is simple enough, and after placing the appropriate glasses of water in different places around his living room, Tsukasa takes a seat on the couch while Leo looks around at the liquids eagerly. He doesn’t get why Leo can’t just recite the spell himself, but Leo had insisted Tsukasa be the one to do it, so in the end, he supposes it isn’t really a big deal. 

 

It only takes a few Latin words muttered under his breath with increasing volume for the spell to begin taking effect, but Tsukasa honestly isn’t sure what to expect until the glasses spread across the room begin glowing in assorted colours. He wonders if for a moment that’s it, but the water in the glasses seems to gain a mind of its own as the liquids begin floating up and away from their containers, slowly becoming round in shape until they form perfectly circular orbs. They drift around the room, the colourful lights dancing against the walls and furniture of the living room, even leaving spots of red and blue and purple on Leo’s face as they take their lazy paths around the two of them. 

 

Even though they’re only situated in his average living room, Tsukasa can’t help but to think this is one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen, but maybe that’s half inspired by the fact that Leo seems so excited about it, constantly glancing back in forth between the water orbs and Tsukasa as if he’s looking for approval. Tsukasa stands up from the chair, careful to avoid busting any of the spheres as he does so, and moves over to be next to Leo. 

 

He can’t hide his amazement at the spell he’d previously thought would be an inevitable failure, so when he looks over at him again, it’s to compliment him, even though it’s such a rare thing coming from Tsukasa’s mouth. “This is…really beautiful, Leader,” he says, expecting to get back a conceited comment about how ‘of course it is, I’m the one who made it, after all,’ but that doesn’t come.

 

Instead, Leo says, “I’d been perfecting it for weeks, you know. Well, one week, and the other week was spent trying to figure out how to convince you. I bet you’re sorry you held out so long now, huh?”

 

“Yeah,” Tsukasa agrees honestly, not wanting to ruin the moment with stupid bickering. All he can think about is how pretty it is, especially with how the colours’ reflections look trailing across Leo’s skin, and it’s only natural that he gives in to his urges, bending down toward Leo to meet him halfway in another kiss. 

 

For the first time in a while, he doesn’t pull away immediately, and when he does, it isn’t to separate to catch his breath—no, it’s because apparently Leo hadn’t worked on his spell  _ well enough _ , and the orbs of water had suddenly ended up bursting all over the two of them and his living room. 

 

There’s silence between them, as if Leo expects him Tsukasa to burst too, but they’re both surprised when he laughs instead, unable to understand his line of thinking himself. He’s soaked, sure—but the moment had been ruined in a way that’s too perfectly ‘Leader’ that he can’t think to be mad, instead attempting to shake some of the water off before pulling Leo in for one more kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> world building notes, wip:  
> \- witches typically leave home at a young age. tsukasa in particular left at age 15, and met the coven around then. i know, i didn't take age into mind when i was figuring out how it works, but yeah.  
> \- when witches leave home, they typically want to find a place to call their own, even if it means moving a country away. i know i didn't mention it, but this fic is actually set in a fictional city in california! how they got here depends on their personal choice.  
> \- yeah, each unit makes up their own coven, and although there's strength in numbers, the hierarchy is very much set in the domain (city) these covens stay in. eichi's coven uses underhanded tricks to stay on top, i think.  
> \- humans are either enchanted by witches or they hate them. most witches don't want to risk finding out which they are, so they hide their magical capabilities... this means no flashy witchy outfits. unless you're wataru, of course, but otherwise they dress as any human would...HOWEVER there are definitely witch fashion trends, such as woven necklaces/bracelets with gemstones attached, enchanted accessories that shine or change colour, etc.  
> \- there are other species, such as fae, merfolk, vampires, etc. MOST species that aren't human don't have witch magic, since witch magic is passed down through blood 90% of the time, but it can skip generations. but there are special cases that i used for the sake of this fic, i.e. rei and ritsu, leo, kanata, etc.  
> \- side note: merfolk lose their ability to regain their tail upon contact with water if they stay out of the water too long. this is what happened to kanata, i think, so he often visits the water and kaoru and souma keep him company.  
> \- for demons, they can travel back and forth between hell at their own leisure, but they're unfortunately subject to being summoned by witches needing them to do their bidding quite often. this doesn't happen to leo often because he has magical capability; tsukasa is a special case. their horns and tail can honestly be any colour, though they're typically dark, reddish, or earthy colours. their tails are...ah, think rin from ao no exorcist? but no flames, obviously.  
> \- more later. if you want to know something specific, feel free to ask!
> 
> this fic took me two days to write... i'm a bit exhausted.
> 
> as always, please kudos and comment!


End file.
